Search form

Your Brain at Work

In 2013, we continued to push the boundaries of what we know about ourselves; going boldly into questions no researcher has gone before. Like, what should we do when we need a little lift – take a run, have a coffee, or grab a beer? Here are some of the year's bigger findings about how we can be more effective at any kind of work.

In the last decade, we’ve seen tremendous changes in our workforce. With all of the recent advancement in technologies, nearly three-quarters of employers give their employees the tools they need to work remotely, giving employees more freedom to pick the hours they work...

Bad management appears to be an epidemic, costing the economy a total of $360 billion every year in lost productivity. 65% of employees say they would take a new boss over a pay raise, and 3 out of every 4 employees say their boss is the most stressful part of their job.
It’s not like we’re not trying: according to the...

The science of self-improvement never ceases. Every year brings dozens of new quirky findings about how to be more effective, whether in managing our time, being more creative or just getting things done. Here are some of the highlights for me from 2012.

Search Amazon for ‘parenting’ and you’ll find 120,000 books. Parents, myself included, clearly have a lot of questions. New research is providing fresh answers every year – though perhaps there are so many studies now it can be all a bit overwhelming. Here’s my summary of what seemed to be the bigger findings to emerge about ‘bringing up baby’ in 2012...

As the so-called fiscal cliff (spending cuts and tax hikes) looms, President Obama could benefit from understanding what brain research tells us about building coalitions and finding agreement with our foes.

Imagine you got to work on Monday and you knew exactly how you had performed the previous week, compared to everyone else, and could look up, in a moment, how everyone else was doing. Or a manager could go online, any time of the day or night, and see how his team was performing, who deserved a bonus, who was lagging, even if those people were customer service staff, or...

Leaders of today’s world know exactly what I mean when I say that it is becoming increasingly more important for newer and more innovative ideas to be brought to the table. Our workplace culture demands for us to experience stroke of genius ‘aha’ moments to be occurring on a daily basis.

If you are one of those people who think for a living (like me), then you've probably noticed just how much clearer your mind is after a break of some sort.It turns out there is now some very good science that explains the value, importance and function of mental rest.

Facebook IPO was one of the most anticipated in Wall Street history, too bad it ended on a solemn note for many investors who are throwing up a thumbs down as they declare their dis-"like" for the anticlimactic outcome as the online social network's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut Friday.

We hear people going on tirades about their bosses all time. Whenever a group of coworkers go out to eat, it's a safe bet their boss will be a hot topic of conversation. One of the most common complaints about leaders is that they are promoted for their technical skills, despite the fact that they often have poor social skills. However one of many big insights that...

A helicopter parent is one who hovers over their child's every move in an effort to protect them from pain, disappointment, and failure in the process of achieving success. This type of parent is especially prevelant in western culture because we are so preocuppied with building our children's self esteem.

Thanks to the multi-trillion dollar fast food industry, the average waistline of people in the developed world has increased 400% in 25 years, leaving three-quarters of adults now overweight or obese. For the first time in history, there are literally more people overweight than there are starving.

The 'Occupy' movement, as confused as it might seem, is clear about one thing. It wants to ask the modern world some uncomfortable questions. Contrary to media portrayal, the questions are not small ones, like whether drum circles should be required in schools, or which brand of politician should be in charge. The questions are deeper here, like, should we let equality con

I recoiled in horror recently at a story in the New York Times about using twitter-like tools in a high school classroom. The project is well-intentioned: they wanted to get kids more comfortable with speaking up by giving them digital tools to do so. The trouble is, now the kids are staring at screens all day instead of interacting with each other or the teacher. While th

It is great that the US Government has revised our food pyramid. However there's another epidemic happening that may need attention too - the epidemic of overwhelm. Here's one possible way of addressing this: the 'healthy mind platter'.

I think that learning about the brain is giving some people similar benefits, cognitively and biologically, as practicing mindfulness meditation. Only without the hours of sitting quietly. Here's my hypothesis on why this could be the case.

A new study by Daniel Gilbert (who wrote a great book called 'Stumbling on Happiness') and Matthew Killingsworth, confirms something we've all suspected: most of us are 'mentally checked out' a good portion of the time.